1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication apparatus which is capable of restricting transmission of data to other transmission destinations than a transmission destination associated with an authenticated user, a method of controlling the communication apparatus, and a storage medium storing a control program for implementing the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a communication apparatus requires authentication to use the same or its functions. On the other hand, a general image forming apparatus, such as a printer, is provided with a transmission and reception function, and exchanges data with an external apparatus. For example, the image forming apparatus receives a print job from the external apparatus, performs information processing on the print job, and then forms an image. That is, the image forming apparatus can be mentioned as a communication apparatus.
It is known that there is also proposed an image forming apparatus (hereinafter also referred to as “the device”) which requires authentication to use the same or its functions. In this type of image forming apparatus, only a login-authenticated user is authorized to use the device. Further, there has been known application software that provides such authentication. The authentication will be hereinafter referred to as device authentication.
Furthermore, there has been proposed an image forming apparatus which permits only a login-authenticated user to use a specific function e.g. for data transmission or printing, and there has also been known application software that provides such authentication. This type of authentication will be hereinafter referred to as function authentication.
By the way, there has been proposed an image forming apparatus configured to store destination information (transmission destination) associated with a device-authenticated or function-authenticated user and have the transmission destination assigned to a button or the like. An image forming apparatus of this type enables a user to operate the button or the like to thereby easily transmit read image data to a transmission destination (the user's own address, for example) assigned to the button (see e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-101484).
Further, there has been proposed transmission control application software configured to restrict transmission using a transmission protocol (hereinafter also simply referred to as “protocol”) to a transmission destination associated with a user. The transmission using the transmission protocol includes E-mail transmission using the SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol) and file transmission using SMB (server message block), for example. In the application program, the number of protocols for use is limited to one.
The application software only restricts the destination of transmission using the transmission protocol to a transmission destination acquired in advance, and therefore a user interface can be realized with relative ease.
For example, let it be assumed that the transmission protocol is restricted to one for E-mail transmission, and while being provided that an address book function for storing a plurality of registered E-mail addresses, and the destination of E-mail transmission is restricted to the destination (e.g. a transmission destination associated with a user) which is acquired in advance. In this case, the above-mentioned restriction of destinations can be achieved by disabling the editing of registered E-mail addresses via the user interface and further disabling the use of the entire address book function.
However, in an image forming apparatus that can use a plurality of transmission protocols, if transmission using a specific transmission protocol is restricted to a destination associated with a user, there arises the following problem:
In general, in an image forming apparatus capable of using a plurality of transmission protocols, not only E-mail addresses but also destinations of file transmission using the SMB protocol and facsimile transmission using a FAX protocol are registered in an address book.
In an image forming apparatus of this type, if the use of the entire address book function is disabled, as a matter of course, it becomes impossible to select not only E-mail addresses but also destinations of file transmission or facsimile transmission.
Further, in general, an image forming apparatus which is capable of performing multiple destination transmission using a plurality of protocols is provided with a user interface that displays a list presenting a brief description of transmission protocols and transmission destinations. Some of the image forming apparatuses of this type are configured such that a user can select a specific transmission destination from the list and demand display of detailed information on the transmission destination via the user interface.
In addition, some image forming apparatuses are configured to display the detailed information in a manner enabling not only confirmation of the selected transmission destination but also editing or correction of destination information.
If the edit and correction of an acquired transmission destination are disabled in an image forming apparatus of this type, there arises the following problem:
For example, let it be assumed that an image forming apparatus is configured to acquire a destination of E-mail transmission and file transmission and permit a user to configure E-mail transmission or file transmission such that E-mails or files are transmitted to the destination thus acquired by the image forming apparatus, which may be an external apparatus used by the user himself/herself. In this case, if two protocols are used for transmission to the user, it is impossible to restrict the destination of transmission to the acquired destination, only for one of the two protocols (e.g. the SMB protocol).
The displayed detailed information can include, for example, an E-mail recipient name, a user name in file transmission, and authentication information, such as a password, which are not the destination itself.
Therefore, when considering a case where a password has to be changed after the lapse of a predetermined time period e.g. at a site of a customer where an image forming apparatus is installed, it is required to enable authentication information to be edited even though editing of the destination cannot be permitted.